Shard Capital Partners Launches New Venture Capital Fund in Ireland

PUBLISHED:9th February 2017

LK Shields Solicitors acted for Shard Capital Partners in the launch of a new Venture Capital Fund in Ireland.

Shard Capital Partners LLP announces the launch and first closing of the Suir Valley Venture Fund of Suir Valley Funds ICAV (‘the Fund’), the first Irish focused venture capital fund in Ireland that uses a regulated fund with a fully regulated Alternative Investment Fund Manager (‘AIFM’). The Fund invests in early stage software companies in the Financial Technology (‘FinTech’), Augmented Reality (‘AR’), Virtual Reality (‘VR’), and Internet of Things (‘IoT’) sectors. The Fund’s First Close has been funded via commitments of up to €20 million from Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government Agency, and Shard Capital.

UK based Shard Capital will be managing the Fund in Ireland by availing of the management passport under the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (‘AIFMD’). Management of the Fund is led by Barry Downes, previously founder of FeedHenry, which was acquired by Red Hat Inc in 2014 (NYSE: RHT) and also more recently CEO of TSSG (www.tssg.org), a leading international software research institute, which has delivered over 120 technology and innovation projects for start-ups over the past three years. The Fund’s Irish operation will be headquartered at the Waterford Institute of Technology’s Research and Innovation Campus in Carriganore Waterford, Ireland, where the TSSG is also based.

Barry Downes commented: “I am delighted to join Shard Capital as a Partner and lead investment manager of Suir Valley Venture Fund. This is an entrepreneur-led fund that will focus on supporting entrepreneurs grow and develop ground-breaking new technology companies.”

Welcoming the announcement, Walter Hobbs, Executive Director, Investment and Finance, Enterprise Ireland said: “A key role of Enterprise Ireland is to support early stage companies to start, innovate and scale their business in international markets. Creating a funding ecosystem for start-ups to thrive is of critical importance to the success of our client companies and as part of this mandate we recognise the value of venture capital funding to support high potential growth companies. Enterprise Ireland is delighted to support Shard Capital and looks forward to working with the team to drive the further development and growth of the Irish ICT sector in global markets.”

Trevor Dolan, Partner at LK Shields Solicitors, said: “We are delighted to have worked with Barry and Toby at Shard Capital at structuring and obtaining Central Bank of Ireland authorisation of Suir Valley Funds ICAV. The Shard Capital team is bringing together two dynamic parts of Ireland’s economy: the IFSC and Waterford’s IT Hub. We wish them every success.”